On Saturday night, March 28th, the University of Illinois beat one of their big ten rivals to advance to the Final 4 for the first time since 2005 in the NCAA March Madness tournament. It’s the Fighting Illini’s 6th time in school history making it to the Final 4 which doesn’t come very often. Unlike most of the other basketball factories that hold a spot in the tournament like owning Boardwalk on the Monopoly board. Illinois was awarded a 3 seed in the tournament and late on Thursday night in the sweet 16 game, they dismantled the number two seed of Houston who made it to the big dance last season. On Saturday night they had to play the highest seed left in the tournament, the number 9 Iowa Hawkeyes who got to the Elite 8 because they knocked off the first number 1 seed of the tournament, the Florida Gators. Watching University of Illinois sports is similar to watching all the Chicago professional sports in life which is more heartbreak than championships. To add more misery to my already wounded inner self, I’m a big fan of the Buffalo Bills. I don’t pick the winners very often and I never ride the bandwagon. Sniffing glue and drinking have been mechanisms to get through the roller coaster of emotions watching the local Chicagoland sports. The Fighting Illini basketball program making it to the Final 4 only comes around about the same amount of time that Haley’s Comet lights up the skies. It takes the comet 17 years where it takes Illinois University over 20 years to do so. Iowa played Illinois tough throughout most of that game, but the Fighting Illini prevailed 71-59 at the end. When they do make it to the Final 4, it’s special. Around the bend afterwards is just more heartache as it always ends badly.

Before the 2004-05 college basketball season began, Illinois had to get a new head coach because Bill Self left the program for Kansas University. Bruce Weber had his work cut out for him. Billy Selfish did leave him a solid program to work with. The starting five featured Dee Brown, Luther Head, Deron Williams, Roger Powell, and James Augustine. In 2005 University of Illinois had an epic comeback win versus Arizona in the Elite 8. The Fighting Illini were down 16 points with less than 4 minutes to play. Many people will tell you about the game of basketball that if you wait to the last two minutes of the game, anything can happen. Why bother watching the rest of the game? Just tune in for the last two minutes. With less than 60 seconds Illinois was able to overcome the Wildcats’ 8 point lead. It was Williams’ three point shot that sent the game to over tie. In OT Williams added another two 3 pointers with an impressive Powell dunk to skin the cats and advance to the Final 4 with a 90-89 win. Illinois came into the 2005 tournament as number 1 seed. In the Final 4 they beat up on the Cardinals from Louisville University to make it to the championship. They were 37-1 when they played the Tarheels of North Carolina in the championship. As most of the time in college basketball, the powerhouses always come away with the hardware as NC ended the dream season of Illinois beating them 75-70. I remember Illinois had all kinds of foul trouble in that one, which was my biggest take on that game. Yes, it could have been different if some of their top guys did not have to sit long periods of that game.

Let’s flashback to 1989 and talk about the “Flyin’ Illini” that Dick Vitale called that squad back in the late 80’s. With another talented dream team assembled by the University of Illinois that featured some guys that went on to play in the NBA for years after college. Like Nick Anderson and Kendall Gill. They were solid from 1-5 with guys like Kenny Battle, Lowell Hamilton, and Stephon Bardo with Anderson and Gill, so this team was amazing. In 1989 Illinois squared off against their division arch rival the Wolverines from Michigan in an epic battle. It was a game that had 33 lead changes. Before the Wolverines played a single game in the NCAA March Madness tournament in ’89, they had to deal with the University firing their head coach. Steve Fisher took over and Michigan played some inspired basketball. Back then Michigan’s star was Glen Rice who went on to the NBA. For Illinois, Battle had a huge game scoring 29 points while snatching 11 rebounds. The fighting Illini were coached by Lou Henson in ’89. It was a great season that came up short in a heartbreaking loss of 83-81. Two stinking points that kept a solid team from getting to the National Championship. The Fighting Illini would finish 31-5 for the season.

The present day Illinois program definitely has the European flavor throughout the roster. Brad Underwood is the head coach of the Fighting Illini and he recruited some top star talent across the pond. Guys like David Mirkovic and Andrej Stjakovic. Andrej’s father is NBA legend Peja Stojakovic who played for those great San Antonio Spurs teams with Tim Duncan. Since Underwood has taken over as head coach, the Fighting Illini have been a staple in the March Madness tournament. In 2021 Underwood had assembled a different class of talent and the team came into the tournament as a number 1 seed. In the 2nd round, they unfortunately lost to number 8 Loyola Chicago. This year’s team was one of the tallest teams in the tournament. They were very good at shooting the three pointer along with being solid rebounding the ball. Especially all the second chances they got on the offensive boards. The Illini defense was very solid during the tournament as if Underwood turned a switch. They finished the season with a 29-9 overall record and made it to the Final 4. The defense played well versus UCONN, a basketball powerhouse. The Huskies would prevail 71-62 as the Illinois team’s shooting went cold. The thing you have to like about this present day Illinois team is they are young and if Underwood keeps his core together and adds talent, they could be back in the Final 4 in 2027.

I thought with the University of Michigan in the Final 4, it would have been awesome to see two teams in the National Championship. The Wolverines ended up being the champs as they beat UCONN in the championship. The last time Michigan won the tournament was when they beat Seton Hall in 1989. I thought perhaps the basketball gods were paving the way for Illinois to slay their past demons and beat the Wolverines this go around. Once again Illinois being part of the Chicago sports landscape means you don’t get to live those kind of dreams. In 1989 I was in 8th grade and when Michigan beat Illinois, I let my emotions get the best of me and kicked the couch, hurting my ankle doing it. Not very smart. When Illinois beat Arizona in that crazy comeback, I was at an Easter party on my dad’s side of the family. Seeing my Dad’s sister meant my Aunt Dorie lead the family to the main bar of the restaurant where the television was to root on the Illini was priceless. She was a huge basketball fan. In any sports as a fan, we get great memories but also have to deal with the bad endings. This year’s Final 4 team saw the Illini shot suddenly went cold. It is always something. You hope this team will get back to the Final 4 next season. As we hope all our teams we root for rebound and get back to win it all. However history tells us we see men’s Fighting Illini basketball back in the Final 4, about 20 years from their lost to UCONN. Maybe that will be the team to win the first ever National championship for basketball for the Fighting Illini. Maybe by then the refs will be replaced by robots. Remember when you thought for a fraction of about 30 seconds that this Illini team had a chance to win it all? You were thinking of even purchasing a shirt or something that said your team won. Like a snap of someone else’s fingers, the dream is dead. I don’t think it’s even heartbreak anymore. I think you’d be accustomed to it like a police detective solving murders and seeing bloody corpses all the time. If you stop dreaming, you stop watching. You have to really be getting sick of waiting until next season.